


latibule

by kaffeflote



Series: A Series of Ficlets [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Anxiety, Gen, Hogwarts Eighth Year, POV Draco Malfoy, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 20:37:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20663426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaffeflote/pseuds/kaffeflote
Summary: latibule, n. a hiding place; a place of safety and comfort





	latibule

**Author's Note:**

> i did that fun thing where i overwhelmed myself instead of taking it slow and ended up biting off way more than i could chew, but here's this finally.
> 
> unbeta'd, liable to be edited a bit.

Thinking about the future for any length of time left him paralysed and breathing shallowly - perhaps what he deserves, after his past actions, but inconvenient nonetheless. He’s currently in the bathroom - not Myrtle’s, he doubts she’d want anything to do with him at this point. It’s a mostly abandoned one on the fourth floor, past a corridor that was destroyed last May, and has become the perfect hiding spot and refuge from curious or aggressive students.

The room itself is mostly untouched, and there’s a nook between the sinks and the windows overlooking the grounds that fits him perfectly, curled up with his knees to his chest. His bag is lazily discarded a few feet away on the floor, and he idly hoped nothing will fall out.

In all honesty, it’s a miracle he’s back in the castle at all - just four months ago he thought he’d be locked in Azkaban for life, but here he is, walking around the very place he had a hand in trying to destroy, free to walk amongst and talk to students who were hurt by his actions, directly or indirectly.

He’s back in the castle, but he is by no means an optimist, or blind to what will happen once the year is out.

The future holds nothing for him, he is fully aware. The Malfoy name doesn't exist anymore- or well, it does, but not in a good way. The only way he’ll be able to get any job is by moving (running, more accurately, but he doesn’t want to call it that), or if someone takes pity on him, which he also doesn't want.

He has nothing to reach for anymore, no dreams to move towards. After Hogwarts, in all likelihood he’ll end up back at the Manor with his mother, but then what? What will he _do _? No one will hire him, and no one, at least not in the coming decade or so, will bother or dare to take pity on him. He won’t be able to work, neither will his mother, and whatever scraps of money she’d managed to keep won’t last long.

His watch chimes, bringing him back to the present-

He’s got Transfiguration in ten minutes, He takes a deep breath and stands up, smoothing his robes and picking up his book-bag. His future is uncertain - almost certainly doomed, the only real question is how - but he’s in Hogwarts now. Within these walls, ironically after what he’s done to it and people inside it, he’s safe here. He can breathe, at least for another year.

**Author's Note:**

> draco's a shit but also just a kid and i love him?


End file.
